I Don't Understand My Phone

I just activated this phone and already I hate it. When I turn it on a prompt says "Enter password to unlock screen", but no means is provided to enter a password. What are you supposed to do? Yell it?

You can also choose different methods of lock screen security, or completely disable the lock screen feature altogether. Some other options are drawing a Pattern, or entering a PIN (numeric code). The None and Swipe options do not require password entry to gain access to your phone.

On most Android phones, the lock screen setup is found in: Settings > Security under the heading Device security. You will have to enter your existing password to change to a different screen lock, (None and Swipe excluded). Experiment with different lock screen options to see which one works best for you.

If I understand well the phone was delivered with a lock screen pin set up. So until the screen is not unlocked there are no possibilities to change the security options. Although this scenario seems to be unusual you can try to unlock with 0000 PIN.

I hope that isn't the case; that would mean the phone wasn't properly refurbished before being resold (if it's a pre-owned device). If it's a new phone, it has to be new/unopened. Either case, it should not arrive in that condition. It's possible that the store rep did it (if it was purchased in store) or OP did it by accident and doesn't remember what the code was.